Turkish embassy reopens in Syria after 12 years

Syrian consulate continues operations in Istanbul as Assad’s regime ends

ANKARA/DAMASCUS: The Turkish embassy resumed operations in Syria after 12 years, the Turkish state news agency reported on Saturday.

The Turkish flag was hoisted atop a building in the Syrian capital Damascus, after a hiatus of over a decade. The diplomatic operations will resume with Türkiye’s acting charge d’affaires Burhan Koroglu. His formal assigning was confirmed by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Thursday.

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Koroglu is currently serving as Türkiye’s ambassador to the African nation Mauritania.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote, “We are delighted to see our embassy in Damascus resume operations after 12 years with the raising of our cherished flag.”

The reopening of our embassy stands as one of the most concrete steps reflecting our commitment to Syria’s stability, as well as to fostering peace and cooperation in our region.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz

The VP also said that he hopes Türkiye’s diplomatic engagements will aide in restoring normalcy in Syria and shared that Türkiye will support the rebuilding of Syria’s economic and institutional strengths.

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In 2011, there was a violent crackdown on Turkish protestors, by the then government. Back then, the Turkish embassy was located near Rawda Square in Damascus along with diplomatic missions of several other countries. The Turkish embassy continued to operate for a while after the events of 2011, but on March 26, 2012, the embassy suspended its daily activities, Anadolu Agency reported.

Soon after, the embassy staff returned to Türkiye.

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On the other end, the Syrian Consulate General is still operational in Istanbul since the sudden end of the Bashar Assad regime this month.

Assad has been the leader of Syria for almost 25 years. After the revolution on December 8, he is reported to have taken asylum in Russia. This marks the end of the Baath Party rule over Syria, that had been in power since 1963.